Destroyed in a fire due to an engine failure that sent some turbine parts through the main fuel cells. The pilot, D.W. Bell, was from the Operational, Test & Evaluation squadron but using 388th TFW aircraft ejected safely after trying to restart the engine. The fact that the aircraft did not blow up was a relief to some early pilots as they were not convinced that the new designed fuel cells would perform as advertised. The fuel cells are sealed partitions in the fuselage. However, the major concern was about the fly by wire flight control system and what happened if the power was totally lost if the flight controls went "stupid". It was well understood that loss of flight controls could cause 20 Gs in less than a quarter of a second.

The aircraft was lost in a yellow flag exercise caused by fuel starvation. The pilot bailed out at approximately 300 ft when a flame-out approach to a dirt road didn't turn out to be the best solution.

Impacted the ground on the Eagle range, Utah. The crew, Capt. Don Stuart and Capt. Larry Danner, ejected safely and were uninjured. During the second low angle bomb pass on the Eagle Range target, the engine stagnated when the throttle was advanced from idle following bomb release. Airspeed was traded for altitude, but both the primary and backup control airstart attempts were unsuccessful and they bailed out at about 1500 feet. The subsequent investigation revealed an alignment pin was missing from a critical valve in the engine compressor variable geometry system which precluded restart.

The aircraft crash landed on Rogers dry lake bed at Edwards AFB due to a blown nose gear tire on take off during the annual open house air show. It was shipped to General Dynamics Fort Worth in a C-5 and rebuilt into the first F-16XL, flying back to Edwards one year later on December 2nd, 1981. The pilot survived unharmed but very shaken.